Water Supply Cut Off In Tajik Capital

15 July 2004 -- More than half a million people were left without drinking water today in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, after mud slides caused by heavy rains polluted the water supply.

Dushanbe officials cut off the city's water, which had turned brown and muddy and was declared unsafe to drink. Authorities were working to organize clean-water deliveries by truck to residential areas.

Heavy rains last week set off mud slides that flowed into the Varzob River, Dushanbe's main water source.

Avalanches and rising water have also stranded several thousand travellers on roads.

(AFP/Reuters/ITAR-TASS)